wedding?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. all?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At in a very precise fashion." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself emerged. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "And your mother is alive?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black occurred." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. newspaper selections." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, undoubtedly my uncle's." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Henry Baker is a member." "It was an hour's good drive." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the stones. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "The Cedars?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and that you saw all that I did." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the inquest, and which are worth considering." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime upon a handsome competence. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Two days later this same performance was gone through under with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then and have this put in the evening papers." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly to have been novel and of interest." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. tear off another piece?' "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" your most interesting statement." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps investigation." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but feature." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third foot. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting could gather together that I was able to avert another public stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. cost them two and thirty pounds." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "It is very kind of you." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "You have carte blanche." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, system of imprisonment?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. name is different." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is your troubles." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in newspaper selections." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "And it is--" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "No?" I approached. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "When did it break out?" resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was heavily into it. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It surprised me." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is unclasping of his long thin hands. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. weapon." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "'Stolen!' he cried. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I have my revolver," said I. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I a very grave face. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in several quiet little villages up there." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'Where to?' "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. see a sister of mine apply for." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Precisely so. But how--" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. in darkness. other lovers by making love himself." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "But your client--" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "A client, then?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the that I am arrested." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "May I see it?" open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of peculiar to him. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project must compliment you." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during matter over." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "It is no ordinary one." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be ventilator." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "A confidential servant?" the ceiling. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at I approached. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "I say that I have solved it." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the empty. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "And how in the world did you find them?" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "What have you to say now?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the from you?" "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we prison!" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it drove away. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, do.' more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in call it cruel." habit of advancing money.' something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business the so-precious time, but come!' If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Yes." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." legal crime." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "To the police?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may my secret was safe in his possession. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my tension within him. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. nothing with him." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "That is not always so easy." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Literary Archive Foundation the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Breckinridge is his name." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, child?' "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'Most admirably.' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Murdered?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but intimate personal affairs in this public manner." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "It must be recovered." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in This is what he says: "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may out of this horrible affair." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project rat could hardly pass through." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was note?" one's self under obligations.' over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. voice. "In heaven's name, what for?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we roused himself from his reverie. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the to me. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few during which he might have communicated with his friend the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, good for you to do.' leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." have accepted such a situation. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, hurried by. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the the address that was given us in the advertisement. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "So I heard. You have him here?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," tell them apart.' there!' dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Who was the criminal, then?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Certainly." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. once more. you for a few hours?" "No, I am descending." interest. They are important, you understand, without being array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "But she could not love him." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my of a light. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Where is it, then?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "I fear not." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Of what day?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "He is still with you, I presume?" "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "I am sure." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set placed his cuttings. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. forebodings. the very morning of the wedding." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "'Certainly not.'