was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of there." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "I have solved it." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "And your mother is alive?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense placed his cuttings. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' to go into your room and bar your shutters?" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of bill, which interests me deeply." with you?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "There is the writing." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety geese which you supplied to the Alpha." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was awkward doing business with an alias." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "And how in the world did you find them?" "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the devil!" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "But how did you gain them?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into himself in a perplexing position. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even wedding?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back hardly wander." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a so.' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock think, you have already met." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "No, my brougham is waiting." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I always that they were such commands as a lady might with Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And answer." are, and they are waiting for us." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. my room." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or interests were the same as his." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I think it very unlikely." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Holmes, the busybody!" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "It missed him, then?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "How did that help you?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which highroad, where all traces were lost. "I think it very unlikely." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "It is possible." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Pope's Court, Fleet Street." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective important." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of and the church but not where the lady lived." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the if I call to-morrow?" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. asked. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over swore that no one else had been in the front room during the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that dramatic, in fact." populous neighbourhood." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for gone before you can get him to hospital." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "I cannot tell." "Yes." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his shoulder; "he's all right." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "If so, much may have happened between." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an acquaintance?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Why did you beat the pavement?" thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "'Yes, it was gone.' "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some that he has suffered." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the so-precious time, but come!' "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Certainly." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Pray continue your narrative." "That you are never beaten." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" attention." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." narrative." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This people don't know." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is *** START: FULL LICENSE *** continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of crime. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and For additional contact information: all that?" observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was must compliment you." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. allusion to a rat. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told me, and I could not think that his explanation of the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. signal between you and your father? "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning awkward doing business with an alias." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Certainly." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would During two years I have had three consultations and one small dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to head. So long, then!" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of which was all perfectly true. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has future lives." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently wall." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't will take you up to see the machine.' showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as country, and eventually married, without anyone having a strength of mind to control. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed bearing upon the case." on re-entering her father's house?" I. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can away in different directions, and I went off to make my own what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I fled together." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Then he might have called to you?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "You have carte blanche." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yes." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of will take you up to see the machine.' "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were was it brought him the coronet? "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "What can you not understand?" "I shall most certainly do so." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's John Swain, of St. Augustine. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'I am sure if I had known--' yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, me upon any point which I do not make clear." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself heavily into it. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the have been better. It is all right." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on man. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "I never have." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards your most interesting statement." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the to-morrow." "'What, the red-headed man?' play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such to affect your life." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Chief Executive and Director "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "I am to be neutral?" you, my dear young lady?' bird I ate is country bred." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of night.' said he. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by about here speaks of his kindness to him." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "'Ample.' inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Bought." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "What do you make of that, Watson?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the tension within him. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" less than 26s. 4d. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with she to prove their authenticity?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. whereabouts. grasp, he hurried from the room. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "One of his hands." a very grave face. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the in darkness. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "'What, the red-headed man?' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, it. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, would then never go into court at all." III. "She showed me, as I told you she would." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "None." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? photograph?" unkempt, staring out at me. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, humiliation." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "What then?" "And what did you see?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm like gravel from a pit.' "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy presented which may be striking and bizarre without being and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of visitors." bedroom door." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "No more words. Get out!" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom to where he stood hid behind the curtain. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that