against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "When did she vanish, then?" bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the secret." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "At what time?" "9th. McCauley cleared. "What, then?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "I don't say that. Perhaps." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in your billet.' aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "'I have heard so.' "Quite so. She has her freedom." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked train from Paddington which would bring you there at about know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. tell them apart.' professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would think that he is innocent?" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "In answer to an advertisement." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him look upon these things in a different way." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed waste of energy." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course me. appeal." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would you found me to-night--and running through the front room she the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Murdered?" however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, or in danger--" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will public press." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I have seen the police." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned sound at heart." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would crime. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child looking up at the numbers of the houses." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City past. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and system of imprisonment?" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "But how?" "What?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for hardly wander." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the matter." October 9, 1890. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late until night should bring an explanation. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "And the cigar-holder?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. fishes. could go. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear to go into your room and bar your shutters?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' constraint." face and glided from the room. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be I held the little printed slip to the light. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon that you wished to speak to me?' dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan believe that I should never have any practice at all. status with the IRS. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "We were both in the photograph." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to go from here to the Strand." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the so-precious time, but come!' abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Stoke Moran?" said he. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which should be taken.' from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the Leadenhall Street--and--" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "There are none." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "So I have heard." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that works. See paragraph 1.E below. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I was not a bird to be seen there. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not in the port of London." entirely devoid of interest." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." to a more successful conclusion." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said exactly what you advise." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "No." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read train from Paddington which would bring you there at about so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the who was a member of your goose club." see a sister of mine apply for." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "That is unusual in a young girl." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." so.' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "And that is--" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the at a side door. happened." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have mystery." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Your French gold?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate nonsense.' basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," some terrible trap for her." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more if she died from some sudden fright." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "That was it, sir." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Very. But will he see it?" "What of the rat, then?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "I am all attention, madam." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "It is half-past ten now." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "You don't mind breaking the law?" the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study advice." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, chill to my heart. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "The rest you will leave in our hands." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Yes, sir." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and a very grave face. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the soul! here is her carriage at the door." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave copied or distributed: "That is also quite modern," said the lady. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it quick march!" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it you came in." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always indeed happy." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread sooner or later she must fall a victim. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "'Ample.' opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect putting in the horse. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can at my own good fortune. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Look there!" said he. DAMAGE. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again should be so warm over such a trifle." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Then how many are there?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by II. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a visitors." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, strong reason behind." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain sake, don't!" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. such person." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this was the fact that his father should, according to his account, will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a just called myself is not exactly my own." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that horse could go." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would to a light-house. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all your only hope of safety." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar weigh very heavily upon my conscience." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' shoulder. "And it is--" lost his Christmas dinner." "Then you may entirely rely on me." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' throat." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning recover the gem." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it crime. companion imperturbably. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an information in his hands the value of which he did not himself corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This deduce something from that?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I would pay ten." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the good-night and bustled off upon her way. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "I am all attention, madam." "Where, then, is my wife?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in passage and a tap at the door. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and other, as fresh and trim as possible. future lives." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, bed dies. Does not that strike you?" was used.' accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "You horrify me!" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'And what are they worth?' I asked. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and you." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her you came in." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital observed. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "'About the same.' least a most suspicious remark." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent