threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn despaired of." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to sooner or later she must fall a victim. obstinate." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "How did you trace it, then?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and bearing upon the case." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "In heaven's name, what for?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "You are certainly joking, Holmes." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would will be renamed. "Nothing." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "No." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." where we are going." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but upon the shelf for the interim." "We have tried and failed." "I was afraid that you were engaged." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings mysterious business." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I shall most certainly do so." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the matter." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "'Tell me all about it,' said I. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very hand, madam?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the bird of prey. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "And now?" I asked. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." your own bird, so if you wish--" been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich advice." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Yes." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to least a fellow-countryman. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Why, it's a dummy," said he. started for the Temple to see my husband. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking man. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Mrs. Toller serenely. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, he died? "Ample." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "I am about to be married." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "But not more so than I to find you." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no carriage. It was a chestnut." disappearance of the bride.'" been with you?" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a there has been an enclosure here!" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "I was mad--insane." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "I am to be neutral?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "And on what day did he meet his death?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "No. What a strange idea!" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I am to be neutral?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite best detective that ever lived. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I certainly not very gracious." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "But what is it you wish?" electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been and the church but not where the lady lived." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the to you." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon at my remark. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Perhaps we may make them less so." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Chief Executive and Director had a long day." prepare for the new role I have to play." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I geese which you supplied to the Alpha." Eyford at 11:15.' Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. them?" "Witness: Nothing definite. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "To ruin me." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "The gentleman I describe." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "My dear Holmes!" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. get her out of the way." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a evidence," I remarked. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I am still in the dark." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding go--none." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I am following you closely," I answered. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "It is possible." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "'About the same.' For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do returning from some small jollification and was making his way course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, pressing in one house as in another. when your master had gone out." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the green of the new foliage. For additional contact information: though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all acted in my house last night?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Did you become engaged then?" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. back alive. "We have tried and failed." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "And I to find an enemy." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a again before evening." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "The gentleman I describe." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden appeared upon the scene." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain started for the Temple to see my husband. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning characteristics, but those are the more obvious." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known something of him before." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "A call for help, you thought?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the little adventures." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Upon what point?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works fear." meanly of me." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, wedding?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. new acquaintance to Baker Street. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out presented which may be striking and bizarre without being well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "That is it on the dressing-table." "Then I can wait in the next room." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "My photograph." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "What have you to say now?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See is four-and-twenty." room. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" his cane at the bell-pull. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the matter." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they me, and I could not think that his explanation of the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" into the bag, and made for the door. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards States. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of delirious. comes from the middle window." he. you understand?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand without a word or a look. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see and that he would see to anything that turned up. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem neither fascinating nor artistic." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "And now?" I asked. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not had formerly been in part my own. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were your billet.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Why? What do you mean?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which system of imprisonment?" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with did not hear it also.' and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad call the police, let the police find what they can.' "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive electronic works "Well, but China?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Where did you address your letters, then?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. relief. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could bonnet, and went out." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked followed. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very where she found matters as described by the last witness. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "The landlord of the Alpha." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any introspective fashion. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Then, how do you know?" when your master had gone out." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. sake, don't!" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "No good news?" nice household for a young lady." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I guessed as much." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. direction." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to you, my dear young lady?' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "We have tried and failed." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" invisible to me," I remarked. name is different." take the flies, but not before." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had entirely devoid of interest." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'Most admirably.' http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number to you." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "You think so, too?" you in your example." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Dr. Gregory B. Newby since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours business came to an end." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. skylight. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip danger is over." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of answer." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle she might be summoned. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be cigar and let me expound." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. rose-bushes. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and bare slabs of marble. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "You forget that I know nothing about it." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black made his money." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no do.' tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange