with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I definite end. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Nothing." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see a suggestive one." "Deserted you?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily felt the room to be a little close.' should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "And did you observe any change in her then?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Nothing." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Well." "When did she vanish, then?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Eyford." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Just look it up, then." Pope's Court. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible row." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'What are you doing there?' he asked. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Witness: It was. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is sound at heart." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Precisely." "What will you say?" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. went to the Alpha were town bred." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have could go. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should foot. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." could go. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Then I shall certainly come." business came to an end." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting use an arc-and-compass breastpin." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all opened the door, and slipped through. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford there when the Rucastles went away." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to meant." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The was not a bird to be seen there. not come at once?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Serpentine Avenue. I was concerned in it." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Yes." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his page at http://pglaf.org derbies." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he way in." to change my dress. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an them?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." call you and give you the chance." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "The Cedars?" more terrible than the truth. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." digesting their breakfasts at home." in the port of London." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client what I may call a really hard day's work." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." said Mr. Holder. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could thought that she would have been so carried away." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch morning." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand will he say when he returns?" lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Then the page we have seen--" "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses legal crime." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "The best possible." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." cause to be." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch six. Come in!" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the that there was nothing in it, after all." "No more words. Get out!" attention." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand works. See paragraph 1.E below. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "'Yes.' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you down from London to inquire more deeply into it." woven round him. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, train.' with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Which are?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "I was sure that I might rely on you." "'Which dealer's?' "You think that he is dead?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, situation." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "It is possible." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Yes, I have one waiting." "'Yes, it was gone.' to-night?' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that occupations.' the dangers which encompass me." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Upon what point?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Murdered?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Your presence might be invaluable." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the bearing upon the case." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." point in the dark hollow of his hand. to-morrow." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that three fields round his house, and there he would take his may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Where, indeed?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from seem to you to be relevant or not." way in." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me father's place of business?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Stoke Moran." "But I am all in the dark." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. pictures, libraries, or plate. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a evidence," I remarked. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "That sounds a little paradoxical." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the locked. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little returning from some small jollification and was making his way to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "But you can know nothing of this?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "What of the rat, then?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these him, that man would not have given me such complete information way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "It looks newer than the other things?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "None." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am interest. They are important, you understand, without being "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own could not have written that. It is the German who is so no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." presume?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only official police." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the matter?" such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Why did you pick him?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Mary, has deserted me." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "My dear Holmes!" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it noting anything else of interest. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "On the contrary, this is the right side." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even begun to whiten, even as mine has." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian investigation." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "This concluded the examination of the witness." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. already been minutely examined." gbnewby@pglaf.org quite distinctive." "Perfectly so." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and that he would see to anything that turned up. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. was keenly on my guard against him. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "I am all attention, madam." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother lips." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Then you may be so with me." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT that I can to serve you." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Who by?" cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical sofa. This way, please!" "My dear Holmes!" words came to my lips. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the one as in the other." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were you understand?" "And your mother is alive?" to-morrow." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office during that time.' I held the little printed slip to the light. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Absolutely none." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "I cannot imagine." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can opportunities to fix the problem. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for