face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united door?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "He disappeared so suddenly." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. business." "Ten will be early enough." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "It is a murder, then?" train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I learned something! Where are the gems?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "She told me to ask you." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It meant it for the best. "Indeed! Whose, then?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the stepfather?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite was used.' dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely national property. I was determined that the law should have its breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind and the whole place is in a blaze." telegram would bring me down to your help." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "What will you say?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. lectures into a series of tales." of the one which your family is now devouring." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which to Leatherhead. awaited us upon the table. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "The doctor?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's you?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "It is very clear." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good purpose equally well?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I may have an influence upon European history." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are could go. of his shoulders. "I am to be neutral?" purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the roots. key of the affair now." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in became a certainty. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are passage and a tap at the door. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in despair." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "I would pay ten." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country business at Coburg Square is serious." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter at once, for I have only half an hour." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Holmes." see a sister of mine apply for." danger is over." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is key of the affair now." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It yet." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, burst out into a roar of laughter. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention gentleman's clothes. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "'About the same.' it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my all?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Yes." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning nights." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "What! a murderous attack?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he certainly not very gracious." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" companion. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, straighten it?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet there is a decided draught." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I acquaintance?" was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "I have a cab outside." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you never to learn it at all." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my fatally injured? "Pray be precise as to details," said he. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning constraint." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "I cannot say that I have." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Pray do so." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who crackling voice. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with locked." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke my secret was safe in his possession. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the get the tickets." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Well, some hundreds of times." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how would apply.' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Why did you pick him?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Your sister is dead, then?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen fuss that is made over them." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "I don't believe it." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel young Openshaw's." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" of this gang." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "What I expected to see." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his official police." whatever might befall. "Not social, then?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and before, for it was considerably after midnight. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, will not take me long to tell. true." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "And that is--" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the tragedy. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that crime. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "How do you know, then?" of this gang." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil that I may have something better before very many minutes are have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. do you make of it all?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, remarked. "He is dead," cried several voices. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet together. companion quietly. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "It is very kind of you." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "'Never,' said I. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "My last client of the sort was a king." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Precisely so. But how--" "He disappeared so suddenly." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Ten will be early enough." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." following enigmatical notices: Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "A confidential servant?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this was used.' really the only notable feature about the thing." Again Holmes raved in the air. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That forehead. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "He said that you could solve anything." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Why? What do you mean?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "But you have hopes?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'Oh, no.' will he say when he returns?" in a very precise fashion." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "I will do it." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at that, and I came down." "'What do you call purely nominal?' Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself I held the little printed slip to the light. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "But not more so than I to find you." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, was shining brightly. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Pope's Court, Fleet Street." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." that, and I came down." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I cannot imagine." "She will not sell." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Nothing?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. wedding?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which she used." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as interested in these little problems, and since you are good Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Where is it, then?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "It's nothing of the kind." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you cigar and let me expound." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen business." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it outside. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a London for the present?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Pool. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Yesterday." "'Entirely.'