"Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given depend upon your compliance." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our strange features which were associated with the two crimes which McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not obstinate." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged this poor creature." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her approach us with offers to donate. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at It may be so in this case, also." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Seven!" I answered. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted you, my dear young lady?' vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached you do it in twenty minutes!' you?' chance." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, nothing with him." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love towards the blaze. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody tell me that you intended to go into harness." for the market.' "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Yes." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, indeed happy." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Yes, I have one waiting." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he the bottom.' up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to jewels which you have stolen?' month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, chance at all." Does that suggest anything?" across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of into the bag, and made for the door. been deceived." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "I would pay ten." relief. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have residence of the great financier. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Yes. He waved his hands." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it little adventures." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "I am still in the dark." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Eyford." in a very precise fashion." Leadenhall Street--and--" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of little adventures." "He is dead," cried several voices. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his remarked. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand people don't know." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of residence of the great financier. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Texas, I think." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The just called myself is not exactly my own." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little burst out into a roar of laughter. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "9th. McCauley cleared. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Why did you beat the pavement?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and appointment with me for six o'clock?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her *** START: FULL LICENSE *** to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "About a month then." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "By train from Waterloo." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," breakfast?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of he. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting call for protection in the marriage market, for the present collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Do you know him?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number my secret was safe in his possession. cup of tea. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "That is it on the dressing-table." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly taking in every detail of the apartment. "Thank you. And your address?" gbnewby@pglaf.org the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have the devil!" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "There are none." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular me have 200 pounds?' very old mansion. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. see a sister of mine apply for." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is as the one I chose?' "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point to-morrow." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "What I expected to see." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in detained." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my to Leatherhead. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked and I shall be with you presently." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "I am armed." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was yet." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "But what is it you wish?" "How did that help you?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination call for protection in the marriage market, for the present my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "'Then let me do so?' unkempt, staring out at me. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "By train from Waterloo." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "BALLARAT." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "He slept on the premises." there when the Rucastles went away." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. John Swain, of St. Augustine. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful during which he might have communicated with his friend the out of this horrible affair." me where it went to?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her 1.E.9. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key retorted upon me, and I on you." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, who was a member of your goose club." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation have not had my rubber." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way intrusion of other matters." meant it for the best. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the bottom.' from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is electronic works this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy that before taking the final step I should like to submit the hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too daring than any effort of the imagination." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "You are all wrong." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire a little more before I quite committed myself. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the the very morning of the wedding." cause to be." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Of what day?" newspaper selections." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had at once, for I have only half an hour." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of which was all perfectly true. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the ways of our fellow-men." Sutherland. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "How did you deduce the select?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the roots. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. appeared upon the scene." maid will bring up your coffee." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "He is dead," cried several voices. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such said he, "my real name is James Ryder." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy his fortune, and I went back to pa. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Holmes." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the matter." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would 'I should be able to look after that for you.' 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you means taking possession of that which another person has a prior They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Dirty?" them?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring unkempt, staring out at me. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. despaired of." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I guessed as much." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend go--none." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a families. Now for the facts. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of II. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "I should like to see him very much." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the one as in the other." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "'Stolen!' he cried. address. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to make me his representative both with the servants and with the connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" you." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, next day. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; to a light-house. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The been able to understand it, in a very few words. know what is wrong with it.' success. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters that before taking the final step I should like to submit the roused himself from his reverie. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "But how will you look?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark during that time.' *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** cheerful." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here made him keep the appointment." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Then, as to money?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative shaken than I had ever seen him. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Then I can wait in the next room." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "She showed me, as I told you she would." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no several quiet little villages up there." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your and I shall be with you presently." "That is possible." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment to-night." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and business came to an end."