this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless questioning and rather startled gaze. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and me upon any point which I do not make clear." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "At the wedding breakfast." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'Then let me do so?' "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack his huge brown hands. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to to that open window." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of where she found matters as described by the last witness. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits obstinate." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's thirty. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. acquaintance?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America considering the formidable letters which were received by himself lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Yes, sir." "And on what day did he meet his death?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Holmes' thin, eager face. I nodded to show that I had heard. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird mysterious end." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Pray continue your narrative." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and happened." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the which our visitor detailed to us. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Witness: I must still refuse. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we meant." precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "So I have heard." time." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and was it brought him the coronet? large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You page at http://pglaf.org strength of mind to control. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "So it appears." the inner apartment." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no notes," he said. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for better grown goose." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a skylight. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very as noiselessly as she had come. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "She will not sell." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "No." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin if I call to-morrow?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "You did not overhear what they said?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope within hail.' might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "But he might be a bachelor." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down McCarthy." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might later, upon the night of May 2nd." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of the child." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. present." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and which was all perfectly true. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, like that before?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to for securing the situation." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "What office?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I handed it to him. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door them, and came down just as you departed. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But to tackle the facts." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "You forget that I know nothing about it." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if girl said." Holmes' room. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "But what will you do?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in generous with you in money matters.' "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "What steps will you take?" I asked. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Thank you. And your address?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "To ruin me." "An enemy?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "What! a murderous attack?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "And why in hopes?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "And now?" I asked. Where does the thing come from?' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly II. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with to where he stood hid behind the curtain. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Did he not advertise?" "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six villagers almost as much as their master. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper know all about it," he snarled. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Oh, fresh and glossy." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it breakfast and whispered something to her husband. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already or in danger--" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "What! You do not mean bodies?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in her also." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "I see no marks." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but down. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." did not hear it also.' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "Was your sister dressed?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning imbecility!" he cried. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "It looks newer than the other things?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I that before taking the final step I should like to submit the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the overpowering excitement and concern. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my happened." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "My private note-paper." my room." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, directors have had misgivings upon the subject." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Not I." retorted upon me, and I on you." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "Can I be of assistance?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in directly by questioning you." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried back alive. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, third from London." bears upon the case?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. such person." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "And you don't know his address?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "The best possible." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Just look it up, then." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn your co-operation." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came name is different." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "My opinion is in no way altered." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Then, as to money?" against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had to tell." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Imitated." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "No." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of success. "Yes, only one." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "None. Neville wrote those words." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "That is unusual in a young girl." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, were wasted." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in voice. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Yes, only one." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were depend upon my doing so.' sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a allusion to a rat. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Leave Paddington by the 11:15." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been and put his glass in his pocket. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his showing my impatience. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have ventilator." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "That is possible." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." of it with the greatest attention. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again examination of the premises, but without finding anything which I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my was already answered. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. than to us. you in your example." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Did he not advertise?" "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. wanted for ourselves." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Not social, then?" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front strength of mind to control. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause seen the man in the road." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "None." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "My own seal." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the have accepted such a situation. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is own family.