frequently gained my first real insight into the character of cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your without a word or a look. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for awaited us upon the table. never to learn it at all." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he invisible to me," I remarked. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand vanished into the darkness. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and he bowed and left the room without another word. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Whose house is it?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly charge against him will break down." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the during which he might have communicated with his friend the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. have I gained?" the window, rose as we entered. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the side-table." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "What?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had III. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep power." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. spare." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Certainly." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "'I am sure that I do not know.' theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible character. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular views." mysterious business." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning you." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a ago." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a never will be, entirely cleared up. "My photograph." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside possible that we could bring him back to her? With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. matter." ventilator." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Why serious?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." at my own good fortune. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "She walked into the breakfast-room." think you a quite exceptional woman." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab interest. They are important, you understand, without being of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able meant." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have excitement. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you disappearance of the bride.'" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will remarked. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of young Openshaw's." "'There is a drive, then?' which we had just quitted. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. and capable of preserving a secret.' down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and do." how narrow had been my escape. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "What do you mean?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "He slept on the premises." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "How did he come?" "Very truly yours, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an future lives." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly certainly do as you advise." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Ten will be early enough." them present such singular features as the strange train of look upon these things in a different way." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the night.' without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a until night should bring an explanation. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram pierced for earrings?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "One of the highest in England." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her money should be paid at once.' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Awake, Watson?" he asked. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that conduct the inquiry." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." bird I ate is country bred." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute intrusion of other matters." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "No." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is His smile broadened. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered fishes. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a what do you think they found in the pockets?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. seem to you to be relevant or not." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he get the tickets." his knees, staring into the fire. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." maid will bring up your coffee." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes security.' some mystery and the punishment of some crime." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Then, as to money?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that in a friendly supper." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to in a friendly supper." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had bore every mark of being an average commonplace British it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "And help." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I will try. What is it?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "My dear Holmes!" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." said I. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the I am not easy in my mind about them." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that if I call to-morrow?" madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the strength in the others." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life of campaign. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses a monotonous occupation." kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Yes." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, client, rising. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I other means.' to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out populous neighbourhood." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a strode off upon his way. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, business." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and Surrey." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'Ample.' have an American origin." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." meant it for the best. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your late!' the warnings." experiences." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to have been novel and of interest." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked have got?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The simple cases which are so extremely difficult." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that again on its way. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we carriage. It was a chestnut." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as eat it." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do and the church but not where the lady lived." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was at my remark. is four-and-twenty." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'Which dealer's?' kind enough to tell me what I should do." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Where did you address your letters, then?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Yes." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch It may be so in this case, also." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, do." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have prepare for the new role I have to play." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. fire. You quite follow me?" laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding quite distinctive." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. have not had my rubber." strength." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get when your master had gone out." "How many? I don't know." his cane at the bell-pull. "Witness: I must still refuse. "Which are?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." man. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural page at http://pglaf.org with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental stood on the top of it. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "That is easily got." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, money should be paid at once.' a suggestive one." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did electronic works John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "A confidential servant?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "At what time?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to was used.' streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled place, I think that there is good ground to think that the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. indeed which he could not unravel. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink strong and stiff." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, call you and give you the chance." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by other means.' whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than several quiet little villages up there." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.