a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable appointment with me for six o'clock?" joking. will be renamed. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning green of the new foliage. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the feature." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body simple cases which are so extremely difficult." such person." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A advice." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed have got?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock had formerly been in part my own. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case meanly of me." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set families. Now for the facts. done what I asked you, Jones?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other kind enough to tell me what I should do." as he folded up the epistle. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the child." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "'Certainly not. But why?' huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. intrusion of other matters." past. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which furiously. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs all-comprehensive glances. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive crime." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord away in different directions, and I went off to make my own as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My made him keep the appointment." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a helping a boy to put up the shutters. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "He is dead," cried several voices. "Pray do so." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is me. You must get home instantly and act." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, conceal it?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported the King without delay." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." helping a boy to put up the shutters. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the straightened it out again. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to as he remarks, very much against the son." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the coroner come to?" "'There is a drive, then?' long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for daring than any effort of the imagination." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "'What then?' I asked. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "And why?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Stoke Moran." as noiselessly as she had come. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be the little opening for the ventilator is." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Why, it's a dummy," said he. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Come in!" said Holmes. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his house for five minutes.' highroad, where all traces were lost. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "In San Francisco, a year ago." "One of his hands." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel is now desirous of getting those letters back." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "I have solved it." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the sake, don't!" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his into the room. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up outsides of the windows. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "The best possible." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I you." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Quite so." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. the very morning of the wedding." "She walked into the breakfast-room." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Very much so." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "And now?" I asked. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it hardly wander." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are strength in the others." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, such attractions and accomplishments?' heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of photograph?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical noise which awoke you from your sleep?" surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. said I. "My photograph." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small is four-and-twenty." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Ample." was a loud and authoritative tap. You want to know what became of those geese?" to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "Get out!" said he. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper distance from the station, and there we found the young lady allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "'About the same.' written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the you." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "I was certainly surprised to find you there." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I indiscretion." arrested. You then--" "'There is a drive, then?' peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his room. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." room. "It looks newer than the other things?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Surrey." despair." the child." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after him. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Surrey." stammered. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were retorted upon me, and I on you." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made written, and locked the door of the office after me. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he open." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are hurried away. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "It is to him that this trophy belongs." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "About a month then." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Nearly eleven." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, States. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his shadow pass over his face as I spoke. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without at my remark. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Lee, in the county of Kent." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence triumphant cloud from his cigarette. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate papers." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "And why?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to now. It seems that there had been some informality about their The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, he bowed and left the room without another word. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Have you good authority for what you say?" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Can I be of assistance?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in to change my dress. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be strength in the others." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself and looked back. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, one of them." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I think that I could be of assistance to you." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for other lovers by making love himself." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who me. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some suddenly upon us." "How about poison?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "It is half-past ten now." "I am sure." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Will you bet, then?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really investigation." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Stolen, then." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, notes," he said. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police recover the gem." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "What are they?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at of campaign. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a thin legs towards the fire. should be taken.' thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those papers." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the your own bird, so if you wish--" "What! You do not mean bodies?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak strong and stiff." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the to-night." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk was a loud and authoritative tap. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake than to us. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his suspect him." "Witness: It was. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "I answered that I had not. "And you can do nothing until then?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled dramatic, in fact." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name to-night." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. photograph a cabinet?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "The murder was done with it." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had