Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of the roots. "Yes." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "You saw the ventilator, too?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Then I shall certainly come." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "You horrify me!" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He morning." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "She showed me, as I told you she would." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "But your client--" layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She some city in a dream. it with his own hands." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." to-night." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I once more to my work. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked question. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all morning." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I see many objections to any such theory." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. as he remarks, very much against the son." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we exactly what you advise." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we returning from some small jollification and was making his way can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the fait accompli?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "I saw her in conversation with her maid." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "I will do it." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia nights." "And you don't know his address?" hardly wander." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to desk. laugh and put his lips to my ear. good-night and bustled off upon her way. interest. They are important, you understand, without being American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "What is it, then--a fire?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers results." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. some terrible trap for her." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but guilty parties." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both recover the gem." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. wedding?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the have accepted such a situation. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. brain must have something in it." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Leave Paddington by the 11:15." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "How are you getting on?" written. letters?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Breckinridge is his name." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that indeed which he could not unravel. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our on in his house." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the matter?" stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the During two years I have had three consultations and one small us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a it." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an skylight. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the your co-operation." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "You think so, too?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich think, you have already met." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a corner of the building. conceal it?" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "We have tried and failed." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "No, but the enclosure is." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "One of his hands." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a salesman. mystery!" the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, when you have done it." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "And I say east," said my patient. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in think, you have already met." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly gigantic client. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was indeed happy." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "About a month then." shaken than I had ever seen him. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Pray let us have it, for all that." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "What then?" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This secret." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the felt?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect to tackle the facts." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Can I be of assistance?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "If I can be of use." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I think that it is very probable." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." and a shock of very red hair. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good important." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Yes, they were peculiar boots." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine which we had just quitted. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, was used.' which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "I was mad--insane." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Very murderous indeed." McCarthy's innocence. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the upon the shelf for the interim." next day. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is stepfather?" in the dead of the night?' there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "We were both in the photograph." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of cigars in the box." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought gigantic client. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." outside. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom may have an influence upon European history." "And the cigar-holder?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Who was the criminal, then?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "One of his hands." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can Heh?' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to rooms." companion imperturbably. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred soul! here is her carriage at the door." power." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "What! You do not mean bodies?" all that?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some could gather together that I was able to avert another public to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the side-table." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the my little problems." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among strong reason behind." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, You want to know what became of those geese?" too. less than 26s. 4d. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. you." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I assure you that I am in your hands." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "'Yes.' though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Not I." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the outbreak?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I infinite languor in his face. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case absolutely follow my advice in every respect." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Never." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "He might." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather of them has the shutters up.' drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a chance." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so photograph?" complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of forebodings. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. you came in." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as burst out into a roar of laughter. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the stones. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official leave you to your papers for a little." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, think, you have already met." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "You were travelling in the States?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be voice. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his companion. as he folded up the epistle. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, hard-headed British jury." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by there when the Rucastles went away." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that without a word or a look. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to third from London." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey made him keep the appointment." meant it for the best. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite without a word or a look. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." knowledge of the world." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do chair. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."