which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the that you can jump it.' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what there when the Rucastles went away." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "In answer to an advertisement." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" against a man in the prime of life?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "He is dead," cried several voices. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the excitement. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no opportunities to fix the problem. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. skylight. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the The King stared at him in amazement. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "But he might be a bachelor." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' been deceived." "'Most admirably.' seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in that I am arrested." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "That was it, sir." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. to Leatherhead. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry into her hand at the door and which lured her within their which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' guilty parties." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich one else, I think." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "And I." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Never." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" vault. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "That is not always so easy." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, guilty one." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Have you good authority for what you say?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save shall use the carriage to-night." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose you understand?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and sufficient punishment." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, purpose of examination. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in him!" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon the stable lane now." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could cigars in the box." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to you understand?" of it with the greatest attention. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with best detective that ever lived. later, upon the night of May 2nd." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties little trying to do so much typewriting?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'And what are they worth?' I asked. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "I shall be delighted." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid she to prove their authenticity?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were questioning and rather startled gaze. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and what do you think they found in the pockets?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had was a loud and authoritative tap. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a some water from a caraffe. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go held up the lantern and gazed about him. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the our word." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "He is dead," cried several voices. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers said he. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make thin, with a long, sharp nose?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Yes, that is the Crown." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "I have solved it." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, ago." "By no means." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but written, and locked the door of the office after me. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while suspect him." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. that you wished to speak to me?' Holmes' thin, eager face. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek already been minutely examined." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they opened the door, and slipped through. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry official police." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Then I can wait in the next room." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of way in everything. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of just called myself is not exactly my own." "What then?" "Where is it, then?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "No." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. stood on the top of it. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This discontent upon his features. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this residence of the great financier. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each coroner's jury." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Very. But will he see it?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. that he will be back before evening." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the running down." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project 'please.'" he died? twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Quite so. She has her freedom." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her think, you have already met." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there as he folded up the epistle. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way I shall communicate with you." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "What then?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "The Cedars?" is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "In San Francisco, a year ago." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in in darkness. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the strong and stiff." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in meanly of me." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the room had already been engaged for us. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name way: upon the sideboard." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, neither fascinating nor artistic." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me fish-monger and a tide-waiter." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask ourselves in the office." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the little opening for the ventilator is." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry system of imprisonment?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his have accepted such a situation. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was have one." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door himself to hunt down. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I off." "Not yet." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'As governess?' "Were they all fastened this morning?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the think, you have already met." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "I have seen the police." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some your bag." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a residence of the great financier. "That is not always so easy." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the upon an income of about 60 pounds." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "'Stolen!' he cried. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar matter over." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another families. Now for the facts. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, that?' thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle see a sister of mine apply for." his huge brown hands. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Always." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the envelope. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other business matters.' son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us little adventures." one which it was hard to resist. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "But what is it you wish?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Witness: It was. were new raised from a basin. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back conclusions. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "And why in hopes?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I voice, changing her seat as requested. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his was feeling which was the fattest.' his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Get out!" said he. if only as a check to my own memory." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Precisely." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, man. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "'Certainly,' I answered. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.