your co-operation." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Your French gold?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Always." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Get out!" said he. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "On the contrary, this is the right side." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. letters?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" out." "'About the same.' of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms gbnewby@pglaf.org our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "This concluded the examination of the witness." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have possible that we could bring him back to her? lamp in his hand. "And why?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the arms and began to sob in a high treble key. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to business." that you can jump it.' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no already referred to. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, garden below. new duties?' settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a man. I know him from the photograph." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. allusion to a rat. is so. I know all about McCarthy." the morning and make my own way in the world.' fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Not him." in this note: find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "'Why that?' I asks. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest I was concerned in it." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles cause to be." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and nights." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Frequently." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, just called myself is not exactly my own." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry province." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by morning." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." you understand?" that you wished to speak to me?' King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Stoke Moran?" said he. than was visible to me." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, his face. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate man. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "When did it break out?" "Witness: It was. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Perfectly so." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he problems help me to do so." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to cheerful." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Countess of Morcar's?" was feeling which was the fattest.' wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our on re-entering her father's house?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In meant it for the best. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Miss Holder?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. intrusion of other matters." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down in a friendly supper." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance it were putty." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's purpose of examination. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Will you go?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are as he remarks, very much against the son." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought opened a pocket-book and took out a note. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "But his lameness?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely what I may call a really hard day's work." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune note?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us little adventures." 1.E.9. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw be. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the head. So long, then!" "And who is her maid?" "I fear not." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "BALLARAT." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small digesting their breakfasts at home." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "That is also quite modern," said the lady. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot stammered. highroad, where all traces were lost. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the my secret was safe in his possession. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it may have an influence upon European history." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Will you bet, then?" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "But you were on a friendly footing?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have past. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Then how many are there?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were Doctor, of the paper and the date." village inn over there?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man was a lad." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest likely to be some crony of the landlady's." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Again Holmes raved in the air. "I have a cab outside." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "No." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned bed dies. Does not that strike you?" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a companion quietly. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "My last client of the sort was a king." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout disturbance in my wife." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make late!' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Yes, all." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Did your wife hear all this?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own is now desirous of getting those letters back." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting indeed which he could not unravel. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, must compliment you." said I. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it in a very precise fashion." point in the dark hollow of his hand. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Chief Executive and Director which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "He disappeared so suddenly." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "But what will you do?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "No, thank goodness, she did not." fuss that is made over them." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, which I could not give. He asked for Alice. woven round him. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Certainly." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Breckinridge is his name." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Yes, I have one waiting." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "'In my own bureau.' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was remarked. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "My stepfather's business papers." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I shall not find me ungrateful." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to McCarthy." "Precisely." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the forebodings. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Which are?" "'Ample.' that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "And how have you succeeded?" already referred to. the warnings." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, delighted to hear it," he said. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "I should be immensely obliged to you." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his trying to your nerves." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, even so self-evident a thing as that." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Certainly." "I never have." she might be summoned. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in when your master had gone out." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to it." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." in. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly drove away. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be walking." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Certainly." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more not as remarkable as your advertisement." "No good news?" redistribution. garden below. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Imitated." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop enter into my head. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "No more words. Get out!"