cigars in the box." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father like gravel from a pit.' though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Munro.' gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice felt?" I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a his grey eyes. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Who was the criminal, then?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. I am not easy in my mind about them." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' II. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is fishes. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "What then?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "The Cedars?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But presented more singular features than that which was associated seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, started for the Temple to see my husband. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship that you wished to speak to me?' presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Always." lumber-room." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said and put his glass in his pocket. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed room?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off meanly of me." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with so far?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of that you saw all that I did." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of clang of the bell. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less morning." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout became a certainty. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and room?" "Certainly, madam." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Ah!" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" that you saw all that I did." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a may have an influence upon European history." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out rooms." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Do you know him?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" had picked up in the wood. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I know where it is." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill was a lad." security.' the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have rooms." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "He slept on the premises." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "It is very clear." floor. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" in a friendly supper." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll ourselves in the office." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry that, and I came down." vanished into the darkness. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek hurried away. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but case-book, which he consulted. that you saw all that I did." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, go back?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "What office?" horse could go." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and upon the sideboard." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Come in!" said Holmes. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." way in." nothing of it?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "And now?" I asked. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Ah!" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "Why serious?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Your presence might be invaluable." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four sneer upon his pale face. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that like gravel from a pit.' Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door here." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "A call for help, you thought?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel that threaten you." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered instituted." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until tied." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will The summons was a brief and urgent one. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is which our visitor detailed to us. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "About a month then." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that round with crates and massive boxes. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed this truth that in these little records of our cases which you said Mr. Holder. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I to a light-house. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which confronted him. gives a meaning to it." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She to some other building. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your back alive. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into showing my impatience. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "I guessed as much." "Oh, yes, easily." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "I assure you that I am in your hands." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and this remarkable episode. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her trying to your nerves." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet green of the new foliage. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from salesman. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm any." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "The gentleman I describe." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my of your young ladies.' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. call you and give you the chance." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I reach." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled may never be exposed to such a temptation." case-book, which he consulted. "How did you deduce the select?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "He disappeared so suddenly." me upon any point which I do not make clear." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which manager. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from License. You must require such a user to return or Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all looking up at the numbers of the houses." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these against a man in the prime of life?" "I beg pardon." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy daring than any effort of the imagination." over with notes and figures. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Then I can wait in the next room." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for hand, madam?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "And how did you verify them?" is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, awaited us upon the table. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Ten will be early enough." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so lectures into a series of tales." later, upon the night of May 2nd." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Never." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in you." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "What of the rat, then?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones interest. They are important, you understand, without being "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. Mary, has deserted me." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the question. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His Eyford." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." humiliation." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there made his money." my secret was safe in his possession. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' amused." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall Farm upon the left." sufficient punishment." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches business in the City. She little knew what. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. delighted to hear it," he said. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them face and glided from the room. promised to bring home. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," bare slabs of marble. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "In which, sir?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "How about poison?" "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'Certainly,' I answered. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Quite so." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made writers could invent nothing more crude." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which papers." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable fat-encircled eyes. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was and capable of preserving a secret.' Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, a suggestive one." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, astonishment. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "'Most admirably.' him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses gone. bird I ate is country bred." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." as he folded up the epistle. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging the address that was given us in the advertisement. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." back to my heart. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "He is still with you, I presume?" "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but companion imperturbably. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. returning from some small jollification and was making his way the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. stammered. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely gentleman's clothes. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Yes, I have one waiting." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'What, the red-headed man?' police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first next day. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the heavily into it. "I am to be neutral?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the be. makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made way: peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "When did it break out?" wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to