by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they now. It seems that there had been some informality about their and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "To ruin me." "I cannot tell." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of delirious. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near which was all perfectly true. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." there!' of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "And I." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he money should be paid at once.' table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he if I call to-morrow?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, and your relations to her." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly to Leatherhead. upon the sideboard." I shall communicate with you." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he do.' much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting think, you have already met." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that ready to-morrow?' "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the forehead. "No bad?" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there!' "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I for the market.' When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "What office?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "I never have." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the there was no need for father to know." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be night.' said he. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business bare slabs of marble. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the writers could invent nothing more crude." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Was the window open?" young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, page at http://pglaf.org travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "'Never.' "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at bearing upon the case." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" window when the police appeared." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared could not account in any way for the presence of the missing is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "And that is--" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and about. infinite languor in his face. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do spare." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her should be taken.' society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money lamp. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I security.' lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "No, I think that I'll take it." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." conduct the inquiry." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Breckinridge is his name." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes works. See paragraph 1.E below. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn anything to a woman, for she would have her way." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small writer." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'I have heard so.' body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Street. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present society." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "But his lameness?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are me have 200 pounds?' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were something of him before." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would charged with?" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "I cannot imagine." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm again before evening." your most interesting statement." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his and wait." will take you up to see the machine.' "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his families. Now for the facts. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Precisely." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who straightened it out again. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Not at all. I only doubt--' the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, beyond words. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Pool. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I I was concerned in it." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "You horrify me." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Witness: Nothing definite. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'You doubt its value?' he asked. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" if only as a check to my own memory." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "She showed me, as I told you she would." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "What, then, did Peterson do?" research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning morning." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "A greater distance to travel." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "I have my revolver," said I. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "There is the writing." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and meant." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows them, and came down just as you departed. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send means taking possession of that which another person has a prior applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "That's no good." go--none." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, wall." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin there were so many in the whole country as were brought together with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "It is very clear." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. bird I ate is country bred." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'And what are they worth?' I asked. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "And why?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again intimate personal affairs in this public manner." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents the ceiling. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" then?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is in a friendly supper." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Entirely." "Frequently." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent woven round him. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut depend upon my doing so.' cost them two and thirty pounds." were unconscious?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: during that time.' how narrow had been my escape. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client corner of the building. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "It missed him, then?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in your troubles." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I right! Sit down and let us talk it over." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see his fortune, and I went back to pa. "No, finished." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead placed his cuttings. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "But I am all in the dark." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "No." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Lestrade of Scotland Yard." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them matter over." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six relation between them, and what the object of his repeated bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a o'clock is it?" central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Here?" with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign past. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in so far?" out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely note?" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Very murderous indeed." legal crime." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my But Holmes shook his head gravely. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "It is true that I have been generally successful." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "She will not sell." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge may have an influence upon European history." outsides of the windows. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "And leave your case unfinished?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of most interesting one." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the business came to an end." conceal it?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a him nearly every evening." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" exactly what you advise." the warnings." to some other building. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." not, dad?" she asked. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business is worth.' is," said he presently: "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "'Where to?'