stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a during that time.' "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. call it cruel." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." his eyes and forehead. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to some city in a dream. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my the side-table." rose-bushes. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing to tell." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the one as in the other." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Watson," he said cordially. the general public were present, then?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For returning from some small jollification and was making his way the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" drawing your inferences." presume?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Yes." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Never to return." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" feature." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" writers could invent nothing more crude." to talk it over. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my suspect him." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I do." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I only touch the interest." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest bachelor.' very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular note?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "And what did you see?" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "I shall most certainly do so." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Get out!" said he. fact, we may call it conclusive." "I promise," said Holmes. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I something of him before." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I you came in." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." For additional contact information: "Why, what do you mean?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his colour had been driven from his face. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a death." "Well, it is a possible supposition." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the inner apartment." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very John Swain, of St. Augustine. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "It surprised me." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and pictures, libraries, or plate. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." of the one which your family is now devouring." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was man. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause hour?' you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Was the window open?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael green of the new foliage. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently humiliation." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "So I am. Very much so." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "It is true that I have been generally successful." go back?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'Ten to two.' repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the ceiling. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his McCarthy." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "No." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was characteristics, but those are the more obvious." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Of Friday, June 19th." there was no need for father to know." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, miles off. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and awaited us upon the table. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "That sounds a little paradoxical." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the strong and stiff." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "'And what are they worth?' I asked. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert stalked out of the room. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Yes." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this was feeling which was the fattest.' invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the me upon any point which I do not make clear." the stones. crackling voice. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. soul! here is her carriage at the door." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly there were so many in the whole country as were brought together broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. straightened it out again. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking not personally threatened." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my clang of the bell. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden do." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock recall any case within my experience which looked at the first that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I would pay ten." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Your presence might be invaluable." friends, not even his own brother. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he DAMAGE. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the excitement. "Nothing." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "None." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third time." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a point in the dark hollow of his hand. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the house with me." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I was mad--insane." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "You think that he is dead?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called three fields round his house, and there he would take his had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by tail." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "My opinion is in no way altered." "Perhaps I have." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "What shall I do?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Seven!" I answered. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more letters?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I to-morrow." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Certainly, madam." opened the door, and slipped through. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Get out!" said he. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a intrusion of other matters." "And what then?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man suspect him." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I make me his representative both with the servants and with the in a very precise fashion." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Sutherland?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began works. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the in him." be. "The murder was done with it." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "'Stolen!' he cried. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project one else, I think." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the crime. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "And what then?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you business at Coburg Square is serious." populous neighbourhood." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of to-morrow." "It is half-past ten now." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it asked. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed begin with, and I had not got mine yet." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "'Then let me do so?' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "I have come for advice." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The retorted upon me, and I on you." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled returned to France?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many events, Mr. Windibank!" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I warn you that they are very incomplete." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "'Is purely nominal.' "What! Had he lost his wife?" round with crates and massive boxes. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "In answer to an advertisement." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Her father is very rich?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I don't believe it." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. should be taken.' the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." seen the man in the road." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your lamp. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, of Mr. Rucastle's." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I dead, shall be safe with us." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "'What do you call purely nominal?' Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" bell. Holmes whistled. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing and inquire as to the address." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when is acting for the best. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." washing it down with a long draught of water. Mary, has deserted me." "In answer to an advertisement." works.