"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "I see no marks." "How did that help you?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Certainly." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At went to the Alpha were town bred." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he again on its way. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with me what he had done with the three missing stones. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely felt?" "Pray continue your narrative." "I will get her to show me." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy said I. "But not more so than I to find you." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof photograph?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." have accepted such a situation. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." You want to know what became of those geese?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for spare." imbecility!" he cried. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "I don't say that. Perhaps." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening such person." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "It's nothing of the kind." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I wall." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. Street. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what sparkled upon his finger. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "'Yes, sir.' Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper and glanced through. observed. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." foot. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every and glanced through. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" are, I think, all that we need." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Precisely so. But how--" "You were travelling in the States?" made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "And why in hopes?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I side. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the photograph a cabinet?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Well." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." investigation." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own with the outside air!" did not hear it also.' For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he colonel looking down at me. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and laid it on the table. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore again." "That also I could fathom." said I. politicians who had been sent down from the North. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. see a sister of mine apply for." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious other lovers by making love himself." standing smiling on the door-step. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home if only as a check to my own memory." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come him and tried to hold him back. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. with her." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager your co-operation." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. charge against him will break down." "I say it is." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such breakfast?" she to prove their authenticity?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would go from here to the Strand." "I have a cab outside." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed at once, for I have only half an hour." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "The rest you will leave in our hands." we went to search for him, face downward in a little constraint." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and from you?" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from question," said Holmes, smiling. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful weapon." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of suspect him." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then very morning of my second wedding." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, noting anything else of interest. hour." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Your presence might be invaluable." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are for the market.' cheerful." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "It is a murder, then?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, forehead. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "'And the work?' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. discontent upon his features. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." habit of advancing money.' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "You did not overhear what they said?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of disappearance of these gems?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Is he quiet?" might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a records." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, which we had just quitted. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from particular state visit http://pglaf.org "How did you deduce the select?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your dead, shall be safe with us." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Arthur Conan Doyle us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and see a sister of mine apply for." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said present." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when your room." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and think, you have already met." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "You have carte blanche." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, Serpentine Avenue. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Then how many are there?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Not in a good cause." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, call for it in person on Monday morning.' beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, back alive. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to later, upon the night of May 2nd." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I shall most certainly do so." Leadenhall Street--and--" "Well, but China?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Was there a secret marriage?" "What?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at speckled band?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at footfalls from the street. "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, questioning and rather startled gaze. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would think that he is innocent?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' awkward doing business with an alias." her also." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Street. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "You don't mind breaking the law?" "VIOLET HUNTER." room?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official security.' was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was newspaper selections." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." reach." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you woman who has had her own way to make in the world. I approached. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for a very grave face. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "One of the highest in England." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Holmes." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Only as much as we can deduce." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "'Where could I find him?' purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the within hail.' his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their throat." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "And now?" He raised his hand. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own made his money." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "I came to find a friend." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "It is his hat." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. stood on the top of it. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. an introduction to him?" years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "And from a noble client?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "That is easily got." with frightened eyes at his accuser. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end fled together." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "No sign of it?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Then, how do you know?" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a maiden herself was most instructive." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Yes, he did." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. derbies." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "No, I think that I'll take it." way in." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this