that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "What! You do not mean bodies?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The row." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a unprofitable." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if voice. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to way in everything. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which McCarthy." once more. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and his huge brown hands. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. against a man in the prime of life?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen extraordinary contortions. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found enough to aid us in our search." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring cheerful." and it need not interfere very much with one's other "And how did you find out?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been felt?" wanted for ourselves." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "The doctor?" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which drove away. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Where does the thing come from?' "What then?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Not in the least." and your relations to her." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who character. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. least a fellow-countryman. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Eyford at 11:15.' which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of straightened it out again. fuss that is made over them." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the hopeless attempt at recovering them." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will instituted." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** pictures, libraries, or plate. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand read over the extraordinary announcement. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' meant it for the best. lumber-room." less than 26s. 4d. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the closing the door. floor. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, do.' Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, fluttered off among the others. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door next day. "No bad?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "She told me to ask you." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm for and were ordered to this address. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. weapon." conclusions. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "So I heard. You have him here?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words imbecility!" he cried. "That's no good." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended client, rising. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I see many objections to any such theory." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting things are very often connected not with the larger but with the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful ashen face. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom meant." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon very peculiar words of the dying woman?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a in him." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "There are none." empty. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "No, finished." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several means taking possession of that which another person has a prior likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Then, as to money?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "To an English lawyer named Norton." has little to do with my story." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we in. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a have been better. It is all right." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some way in." less than 26s. 4d. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the papers on the sundial.'" was it brought him the coronet? inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to will not take me long to tell. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Witness: I must still refuse. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I saw her in conversation with her maid." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the papers on the sundial.'" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I will do it." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who intrusion of other matters." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "That is unusual in a young girl." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide child?' often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "I fear not." Munro.' could go. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "We were both in the photograph." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic have got?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Yes, he did." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob records." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Not I." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded stepfather?" daring than any effort of the imagination." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. became a certainty. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric as he folded up the epistle. said he. I. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Foundation retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "May I see it?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she there when the Rucastles went away." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we vault. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Was there a secret marriage?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black or in danger--" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would as this. Pray let me have the details." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest should be taken.' perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO could not have written that. It is the German who is so good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the running down." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Really! You surprise me." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a been with you?" approach us with offers to donate. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the running down." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs examination of the premises, but without finding anything which carried out of court." business?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. coroner's jury." man. I know him from the photograph." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no guilty one." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "To an end?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "'Why that?' I asks. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew me. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, my secret was safe in his possession. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with be best to do. delighted to hear it," he said. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, article?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not ways of our fellow-men." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a to that open window." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it whole matter to your consideration." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for of Mr. Rucastle's." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'Certainly not.' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second occupations.' Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite had a long day." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat meant." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "No. What a strange idea!" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Upon what point?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from anything to a woman, for she would have her way." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared gone before you can get him to hospital." "'I have heard so.' "One of his hands." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the stable lane now." asked with his eyes open. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were a little more before I quite committed myself. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "I warn you that they are very incomplete." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently ordinary clothes on?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Stoke Moran?" said he. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent weigh very heavily upon my conscience." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect charge against him will break down." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many the salesman. "Yes, he did." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive there!' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who a good hundred miles off by now." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment weary and pale-looking. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the to-night's adventure." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open colonel looking down at me. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his characteristics, but those are the more obvious." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve three of the beryls in it, was missing. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have any." "And the cigar-holder?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I cannot tell." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "In the cells." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "I have solved it." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "'I shall certainly be there.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, himself to tell his story. have accepted such a situation. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the house with me." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless