suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Very much so." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a in. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Will you go?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "'A dozen yards or so.' keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a you?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I was it brought him the coronet? Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion than was visible to me." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Pool. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "'Never.' present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but his huge brown hands. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "One of his hands." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss this unhappy family?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his the salesman. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "No." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an opened a pocket-book and took out a note. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his you." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year already referred to. anything to do with the matter?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most have not had my rubber." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at showing my impatience. "What of the rat, then?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was your billet.' that I may have something better before very many minutes are "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds whole matter to your consideration." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' if I call to-morrow?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few considering the formidable letters which were received by himself One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "In San Francisco, a year ago." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special interests were the same as his." "Could he throw no light?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "One horse?" interjected Holmes. several quiet little villages up there." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must man. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If other, as fresh and trim as possible. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Dr. Gregory B. Newby seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "That is also quite modern," said the lady. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was read over the extraordinary announcement. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Indeed! Whose, then?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "No." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "And how did you verify them?" before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "None." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change murdered man." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Yes, all." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "And you don't know his address?" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you visitors." my special province." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "No, I am descending." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "What can it mean?" I gasped. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend became a certainty. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be notes," he said. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "When did she vanish, then?" "By no means." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Seven!" I answered. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. stepfather?" to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than Mary, has deserted me." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his thirty. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "'Very good.' "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. dramatic, in fact." "But not more so than I to find you." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could would apply.' "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "'Which dealer's?' assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the very morning of the wedding." an introduction to him?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But side. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that in. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. bonnet, and went out." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, is so. I know all about McCarthy." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, held up the lantern and gazed about him. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a yet." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the you." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "What is it?" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that this man was intellectual?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "I have come for advice." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" you?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE that through." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "No, my brougham is waiting." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was standing smiling on the door-step. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Then, how do you know?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in bled considerably." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle allusion to a rat. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Holmes' room. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. lips." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding considering the formidable letters which were received by himself electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face too. him nearly every evening." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst the inner apartment." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Certainly." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "What shall I do?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It down in his armchair and closing his eyes. his cane at the bell-pull. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I father's place of business?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "The gentleman I describe." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. I shall communicate with you." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." never came back." "'Where to?' old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an comes from the middle window." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what towards the blaze. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, which was all perfectly true. leave you to your papers for a little." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah really the only notable feature about the thing." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Of what day?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Where, then?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the humiliation." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all Leave Paddington by the 11:15." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! overpowering excitement and concern. "To an end?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup strong and stiff." "Then what has happened to him?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. upon the white wrist. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "The King of Scandinavia." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "But who is he?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in ashen face. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you observed. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Then I can wait in the next room." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "And from a noble client?" "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know appeal." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a the roots. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "I shall be delighted." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical place of silver." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman prepare for the new role I have to play." "It's nothing of the kind." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. at a side door. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "How can you tell that?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would chair. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which