"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" whereabouts. "That was it, sir." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered important." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over in a very precise fashion." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I see many objections to any such theory." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Gutenberg-tm License. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you perplexity from it to my illustrious client. cup of tea. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Yes, that is the Crown." affection." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "To ruin me." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable you want, then?' became a certainty. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a advice." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I returning from some small jollification and was making his way people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Well, it is a possible supposition." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see over his head with a sweet womanly caress. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any out." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I wedding?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "I say that I have solved it." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else his eyes and forehead. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "It's nothing of the kind." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Nothing." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm him." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Yes. He waved his hands." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the little opening for the ventilator is." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter might have a private word with us. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that kindly on the shoulder. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Well." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the other, as fresh and trim as possible. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "On Monday." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." and inquire as to the address." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "I will get her to show me." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a do.' "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now indeed happy." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the address that was given us in the advertisement. "I have come for advice." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the long narrative. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me away to you." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found unkempt, staring out at me. "My Mary? Impossible!" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its clanging. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "It may not come to that," said Holmes. enter into my head. "Oh, yes, easily." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been golden eyeglasses. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. from you?" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should as he folded up the epistle. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than instincts rose up against that laugh. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I was sure that I might rely on you." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that danger is over." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at wedding?" "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." The King stared at him in amazement. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if what is your own theory as to what took place?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "And from a noble client?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from could gather together that I was able to avert another public c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, of his shoulders. least a fellow-countryman. "Entirely." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I at home. respectable self." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "It was." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, south, for the country is more deserted there." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Thank you. And your address?" papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a get the tickets." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "What do you make of that, Watson?" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower to you." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Nearly eleven." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "'Entirely.' "Where, then, is my wife?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her certainly do as you advise." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just to surprise her." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Was he the only applicant?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my out." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, back alive. furiously. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "It came here." "You saw the ventilator, too?" head. So long, then!" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Yes, I have one waiting." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of forebodings. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Indeed! Whose, then?" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing carpenter." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I have my revolver," said I. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, quick march!" are windows in it, of course?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and fish-monger and a tide-waiter." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "'I have already given you my word.' depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your off." you in your example." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put of the efforts of the United States government and of the better are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Yes, at the mines." lamp in his hand. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "My last client of the sort was a king." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "'Stolen!' he cried. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the Red-headed League." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip joking. Eyford at 11:15.' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, to you." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Ah!" throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking thin legs towards the fire. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "But how?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the with the outside air!" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Ten will be early enough." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Why serious?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how if she died from some sudden fright." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on hardly wander." just called myself is not exactly my own." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "But his lameness?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, returning from some small jollification and was making his way telegram would bring me down to your help." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "But how will you look?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." made his money." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice true." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately province." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man if only as a check to my own memory." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and him and tried to hold him back. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so go--none." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Come in!" said he. Holmes' face clouded over. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "How are you getting on?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "And did you observe any change in her then?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at will take you up to see the machine.' sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "There is the writing." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was with you?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. became a certainty. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an you give your casting vote to?" morning." "Upon what point?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella