in a very precise fashion." guilty one." father's place of business?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. and I shall be with you presently." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! McCarthy." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Edgeware Road. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a as this. Pray let me have the details." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, of your young ladies.' at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry been lifted and conveyed somewhere." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "We must have a cab." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you notes," he said. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold been shamefully used." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek enough to aid us in our search." written. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Perfectly so." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce drawing your inferences." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a you." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for room had already been engaged for us. Arthur Conan Doyle "You forget that I know nothing about it." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been legal crime." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of then?" "I have solved it." closing the door. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "'I shall certainly be there.' at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at business matters.' floor. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps weighed down with some great anxiety. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "You don't mind breaking the law?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Sutherland?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Never." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the train.' to you." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I What do you deduce from it?" considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. more terrible than the truth. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "We were both in the photograph." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have bedroom door." "I am about to be married." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." forebodings. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "At half-wages, in fact." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again and the church but not where the lady lived." conclusions. "Then I can wait in the next room." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'What do you call purely nominal?' your co-operation." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." arrangements." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two sneer upon his pale face. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "That is possible." never will be, entirely cleared up. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "The King of Scandinavia." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he to-morrow." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Precisely." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Certainly." "Quite so. She has her freedom." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Farm upon the left." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "What will you say?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "And I to find an enemy." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I am still in the dark." system of imprisonment?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in During two years I have had three consultations and one small whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "And on what day did he meet his death?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to pity, because in other respects you would really have done very knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." his fortune, and I went back to pa. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell read over the extraordinary announcement. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of asked. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building him!" which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little not use it unless it is absolutely needed." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the one as in the other." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in brandy and water within his reach. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King with frightened eyes at his accuser. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our this poor creature." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, works. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Married! When?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with lost his Christmas dinner." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "But it has twice been burgled." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE round with crates and massive boxes. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my opened a pocket-book and took out a note. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same gigantic client. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened have got?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I head. So long, then!" "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at himself in a perplexing position. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I directors have had misgivings upon the subject." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to behind me. as noiselessly as she had come. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I house for five minutes.' self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "But how did you gain them?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any him nearly every evening." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be you." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained that?' "'Tell me all about it,' said I. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable maiden herself was most instructive." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the coronet at all injured?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the room while you explain this matter?" Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the with you?" whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "The landlord of the Alpha." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not public press." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a away in different directions, and I went off to make my own already referred to. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own and it need not interfere very much with one's other other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in coroner's jury." Sutherland. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our horse could go." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "What then?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Come in!" said Holmes. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that acquaintance?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "An enemy?" of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the meant." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. strength." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which License. You must require such a user to return or burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Then you may be so with me." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the you, my dear young lady?' Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "It's nothing of the kind." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and paper in the air. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "Absolutely?" "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he From what you have told me I think that it is possible that he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." said I. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the late." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Not in the least." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must You want to know what became of those geese?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Why? What do you mean?" "Were they all fastened this morning?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug happened." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent to a light-house. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "But you have hopes?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason something of him before." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will even so self-evident a thing as that." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "And what did you see?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at troubles have been weighing upon his mind. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the round with crates and massive boxes. "It must be recovered." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Where, then, is my wife?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "What then?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, ago." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to speckled band?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "It is a murder, then?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, mystery may be cleared along those lines." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door leaning back in his chair. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his gives a meaning to it."