fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "I say that I have solved it." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. speckled band?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case delirious. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into becomes even more simple." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about cigar and let me expound." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "And who is her maid?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. that you can jump it.' telegram would bring me down to your help." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are four million human beings all jostling each other within the "I should be immensely obliged to you." nothing of it?" "Yes, I have one waiting." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Yesterday." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble woman who has had her own way to make in the world. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down wedding?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had me. You must get home instantly and act." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the matter." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me not personally threatened." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. strength in the others." brain must have something in it." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "'Yes, sir.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "How can you tell that?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much that I am arrested." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which which we had just quitted. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "No sign of it?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the had formerly been in part my own. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the too. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. delirious. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "One of his hands." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, footfalls from the street. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She had died away into the silence from which it rose. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his details should find their way into the papers. Inspector bedroom door." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and with some details as to your case." "Tired-looking or fresh?" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "'As governess?' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "'Never,' said I. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "We must sit without light. He would see it through the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone made him keep the appointment." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be amused." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly my friend's incisive reasoning. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the with frightened eyes at his accuser. the salesman. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some appeal." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off developed." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is ordinary clothes on?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "It was an hour's good drive." chair. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should get the tickets." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in in a very precise fashion." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate gone. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he intrusion of other matters." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "He slept on the premises." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before strong and stiff." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Ah!" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William outbreak?" "Then, how do you know?" remarked. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the have had none more fantastic than this." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "By no means." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The key turn in the lock." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very this truth that in these little records of our cases which you o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple enough to aid us in our search." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "But you were on a friendly footing?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Get out!" said he. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were conversation I have gathered that they have been married about to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "I cannot as yet see any connection." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic next day. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Holmes rather sternly. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an October 9, 1890. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Eyford at 11:15.' soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive his knees, staring into the fire. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly newspaper selections." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project not personally threatened." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that business." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Nothing." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "What!" he roared. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I lumber-room." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "My last client of the sort was a king." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project unprofitable." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "I am armed." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one could not account in any way for the presence of the missing myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Then, as to money?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest as he folded up the epistle. business in the City. She little knew what. "A call for help, you thought?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black excitement. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her lamp in his hand. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on yourselves in at night?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black later, upon the night of May 2nd." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is not personally threatened." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Which surely he restored to their owner?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the second window is the one that I jumped from." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but that you saw all that I did." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I was afraid that you were engaged." sofa. This way, please!" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "And the cigar-holder?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless who was a member of your goose club." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "But he might be a bachelor." "And Miss Sutherland?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Was she in good spirits?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a instincts rose up against that laugh. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. reach." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the went to the Alpha were town bred." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot few hundred pounds.' "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I would give my fortune to have them back." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the feature." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon gone. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "I cannot think." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "How did you trace it, then?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "But his left-handedness." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said who was a member of your goose club." to his chemical studies. "I fear not." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a address. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "You horrify me." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "I will try. What is it?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind one else, I think." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a round with crates and massive boxes. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Not yet." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Yes, it was twisted." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I approached. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any only touch the interest." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "A confidential servant?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "My opinion is in no way altered." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, fasten all the windows?" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a conclusions. once more for Briony Lodge. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, me." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Well, but China?" "And now?" He raised his hand. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss quite distinctive." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll 1.F. details." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. tell me that you intended to go into harness." my friend's incisive reasoning. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "I will try. What is it?" that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "I am armed." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in she to prove their authenticity?" faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. His smile broadened. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is look upon these things in a different way." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. this Miss Turner." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation